Gideon at work; three complete novels: Gideon's day, Gideon's week, Gideon's night
Page 19
"Where's Mrs. Benson?"
"She—she's upstairs, sir, just gone to bed, she . . ."
Gideon didn't respond, except to start pounding along the passage and toward the stairs. Ruby clutched her silk nightdress tightly at the neck, and sat there, bewildered, feeling her heart race with heavy, throbbing beats. Gideon's footsteps thundered, the house shook, Liz and young Syd would be bound to wake.
Her door burst open.
Gideon drew up, at sight of her, gasping for breath. Then, more steadily, he moved toward her, and answered the question that was in her eyes.
"Yes, we've got him, it's all right. Did young Syd give you any tablets tonight? Aspirins, or . . ."
She raised her hands in sharp, stabbing alarm; and in that moment she told Gideon "yes" without having to utter the word. She saw the panic in his eyes as he went on urgently:
"Where are they?"
"They were aspirins! I've just taken—"
Gideon swung around toward the policeman behind him.
"Get some salt, mustard, make a strong emetic—and get a move on!" Now, his voice was controlled and calm, although it was obvious that he imposed the self-control with great difficulty. He was so big, so frightening, so full of menace. "It's all right," he told Ruby, "you'll bring them up and they won't do you any harm. Just a few unpleasant minutes. Benson gave them to young Syd—"
"Oh, no," she cried, "no, not young Syd, no!"
Gideon walked into his office, at ten o'clock next morning, and found Lemaitre and the Assistant Commissioner, Jefferson, Wrexall and two other superintendents all waiting for him. The morning report looked thick enough for a week instead of a day; Lemaitre had spread himself. Gideon grinned round, for a welcome like this could lift him out of depression, help him to forget the wounding of the evil things he fought.
Question and answer took twenty minutes until gradually the men left the office; and finally only Lemaitre, Gideon and the A.C. were there.
"There are about thirty newspapermen after you," the A.C. said; "I told them you'd hold a Press Conference!"
Gideon shrugged.
"Why don't we just give them a list of men on the Force? Then we'd all get some limelight." He loosened his collar as he rounded the desk, but he didn't sit down. "Benson won't say a word, of course; I don't think we'll get anything out of him now or later. Thank God his wife's all right, though."
"You say the tablets contained one of the opiates?"
"Yes. Mulliver says he got them from a ship's captain who sailed out yesterday morning. He'll be held when he reaches port. Mulliver supplied Benson with the gun, too. Still, Mrs. Benson's been lucky. She'll get over it all, of course; but she'll be a sight happier if we could prove that young Syd didn't know what was in them."
"Think he did?" asked the A.C. quietly.
"I don't know," said Gideon, "I just don't know. I don't want to think that he did; the thought that a kid of twelve would give his own mother—well, we'll have to work on him, that's all. Through the family doctor or his schoolteachers, or—" Gideon broke off, and shrugged. "Main thing is that Arthur Small will definitely be all right except for a scar which won't be too prominent."
"Good," said the A.C. "Good."
He went out, soon afterward; and Lemaitre, who was usually very subdued during the great man's presence, relaxed at once and jumped up. He squashed out a cigarette and started to take out another.
"Wish to hell I'd been able to get there, but you know what it's like with Fifi." Gideon not only knew what it was like, but realized that they must have patched up their latest quarrel, for Lemaitre showed none of the sourness that was too often in his voice when he talked of his wife. "Well, we can sit back and take it easy, now the whole bunch is caught."
Gideon looked at the report.
"Who's been kidding you?" he asked dryly.
"Oh, that's only routine," said Lemaitre. "Every man who can force a door must have been busy last night, but there was no big stuff taken. They picked up Jim Ree again, had his rope ladder ready at a place in Grosvenor Square. It's all there in the report, anyway. Three of those notes from the Kelly's Bank job turned up this morning from a restaurant in Soho; better get over there pretty quick, might be able to find out who passed them. Arkwright says will you spare him ten minutes, he wants to check a couple of points on the case coming up at the Old Bailey on Monday. Cummings has found out that Mrs. Edmundsun's been getting a lot of travel literature, and Elliott bought a pair of diamond earrings recently. Cummings is a sticker; if we ever pin anything on Elliott, we'll have to thank Cummings. Well, that's about the lot, and it's all there—oh, no, it isn't!"
"What else?" Gideon asked evenly.
"Smedd rang just before you came in, said would you ring him back. Wants to rub your nose in it, I expect."
"Hmm," said Gideon. "Maybe." He put the call in, and didn't have to wait long. He was already in as good a mood as he was ever likely to be in, because when he had got home last night he had realized just how edgy Kate had been about him; and just how deep was the new affection between them. So much was good.
But a girl who was lying bravely to save her brother . . .
"Good morning. Commander," said Smedd, in his hard, brisk voice. "I thought you would like to know of two new pieces of evidence in regard to the murder of Winifred Norton, and the charge against William Rose. A regular cinema goer who attended the Roxy Cinema last Thursday for the performance which Rose's sister states she and her brother also attended, has made a statement. This statement declares that Mary Rose was with a young man, whose description might possibly tally with that of her brother. Also, a clerk in the same office as Rose has stated that three days before the murder he tried to borrow Rose's penknife, but Rose told him he had lost it. Further inquiries about the evening of the murder have brought to light the information that an older man was seen with the murdered girl near the spot where her body was found. This man has not yet been identified, but I am of course making the closest possible inquiries . . ."
As he listened, Gideon's eyes grew very bright and his hopes ran high.